Friends in football,

Playoffs picks are OPEN. Fresh life for everybody.

Below, Commish breaks down what it's taken to win our Playoffs Pick'em in past years. And we'll recap the Week 18 drama (including a legendary saving of Dallas until the final pick) that produced regular season pool champs.

RESULTS SUMMARY

The BIG Survivor (BFIG) results

• Champ: @Charlotteman1!
• Best Squad: Blindfolded Dart Throwers

Weekly Pick'em (WeeWoo) results

• Weekly winner: Perfection! @JRo bags our 3rd perfection bonus of the NFL SZN
• Overall Champ: @Sevdog55 and @jac211 were tied after Week 17, and differed on ONE pick (Packers-Bears). @jac211, would you like your title with a side of Wisconsin cheese?!
• Best Squad: OF COURSE this ended up tied. Legendary SZN-long battle between "Panda Warriors" and "Bearded Clams". Not only did they tie, their top 3 scorers were exactly the same - 185 wins, 181, 180. Because GM and Commish are benevolent rulers, we're gonna give all 20 of you the Best Squad prize for WeeWoo

Survivor #2 results

• Champ: @mikulis!
• Best Squad: Stonemarkers

Survivor #3 results

• Champ: @Dbhughes16!
• Best Squad: Tommy's Teasers

QB One-and-Done results

• Top passer: Nick Mullens, our late season savior, put up 396, making his 129 pickers VERY happy
• Weekly average: 219 yards per pick (4 yards above the average QB performance in what was a generally awful week)
• Champ: By FOUR yards (yes, 4!), @bdykes5 takes the crown. Wow
• Best Squad: WHAT A COMEBACK. "Blindfolded Dart Throwers" clips "BLOODGATE" at the very end. How? ALL THREE of their top 3 performers had Nick Mullens in Week 18. Incredible
• Interval 3 champ: @Free_OJ hung on, with 2,123 yards in the final six weeks

Loser Survivor Brought to You by The OddsBreakers results

• Champ: @Zeanah!
• Best Squad: Lake Meaders

"All 32" One-and-Done results

• W/L record: 1,188-2,868. Fittingly, our worst week of the year. Our season-long win rate ended at 61.3% (20-12 average)
• Champ: Leader @mufc11 went 0-2 (with a brutal Cardinals loss included), which made room for @jtpaulsen34 to claim the throne. JT went 28-4, including 2-0 in the final week with wins on the Cowboys and Giants. Saving that Dallas pick!
• Best Squad: "Ickey Woods All Stars" was in front by two, but their top 3 performers could only muster ONE win in Week 18. That allowed "Strangers Winning Together" to claim a tie. We'll pay both of y'all the Best Squad prize

Week 10 Wins Battle results

• Champ: @dovif went 13-3 and won the tiebreaker
• Best Squad: BMFFL; Squad standings

HUSTLE Bonus Week 2 Wins Battle results

• Champ: @daverog completed the unthinkable and went 16-0
• Best Squad: "We Think We Win A Lot" actually did win, via tiebreaker

WHAT PAST YEARS TELL US ABOUT PLAYOFFS PICKEM STRATEGY

Our main Playoffs Pick'em (fka "HasselBracket", in homage to Matt Hasselbeck's fateful "we want the ball and we're gonna score" call in the playoffs) is in its 6th year. Let's look at past results...

First, here are the winning records in each previous edition of our Playoffs Pick'em:

• 2016-17: 11-0
• 2017-18: 9-2
• 2018-19: 10-1
• 2019-20: 10-1
• 2021-22: 13-0
• 2022-23: 13-0

Strangely, as the playoffs has expanded to 13 total games, we've posted better results.

Does that say something about the expanded field creating easier-to-predict matchups in the early rounds? Or is it an aberration? Check back in a few short weeks...

But also note that our 2021-22 champ rode the Bengals hard, which was NOT the conventional wisdom. Last year was different, as the playoffs were very chalky.

Beyond winning it all, the paid places cutoff has never been better than 2 losses. So, even if you lose 1-2 games - and in some years 3! - in the Wildcard Round, know that you still have hope of cashing!

Yours in football,
The Commish